Well drilling operations may utilize a variety of steps during the formation of, completion of, and/or production from a well, such as a hydrocarbon well. Often, these steps are performed sequentially, with dedicated and/or specialized equipment and/or crews being utilized to perform each of the steps. While such a methodology may be effective, it may be costly and/or time-consuming to implement due to equipment costs, labor costs, and/or time required to remove one piece of equipment from the well and deploy another piece of equipment within the well.
As an illustrative example, and subsequent to formation of a wellbore within a subterranean formation, it may be desirable to circulate drilling fluids, such as drilling mud, from the wellbore, to circulate a completion and/or breaker fluid into the subterranean formation, and/or to pump a wiper plug or other sealing device to a terminal depth of the wellbore. These operations typically involve supplying a fluid stream through a fluid conduit and from a surface region to, or proximal to, a terminal depth of the wellbore and may require a substantially fluid-tight seal within the fluid conduit from the top of the wellbore to the terminal depth of the wellbore.
Traditionally, a casing string, or liner, may be located within the wellbore. However, this casing string often includes a plurality of holes, perforations, passages, and/or other fluid conduits along a length thereof. These fluid conduits may be configured to provide for outflow of a stimulant fluid from the casing string into the subterranean formation and/or inflow of a reservoir fluid from the subterranean formation into the casing string. Thus, any fluid that is supplied to the casing string may leak through these fluid conduits to the subterranean formation, thereby decreasing a flow rate at the terminal end of the wellbore. Therefore, an inner string that does not include holes along a length thereof may be run into the casing string to facilitate providing the fluid to the terminal depth of the wellbore. However, insertion and/or subsequent removal of this inner string may significantly increase the cost and/or time required to complete the well drilling operation.
As another illustrative example, it also may be desirable to perform one or more stimulation operations to stimulate the subterranean formation and increase a potential for production of the reservoir fluid therefrom. These stimulation operations may include providing a stimulant fluid to specific, or target, regions of the subterranean formation and may utilize stimulation ports within the casing string to provide the stimulant fluid from the casing conduit to the target region of the subterranean formation.
However, and subsequent to the stimulation operations, it also may be desirable to control a flow rate of the reservoir fluid into the casing conduit during production of the reservoir fluid from the casing conduit. Typically, a desired flow rate of the reservoir fluid into the casing conduit during production from the subterranean formation is significantly lower than a desired flow rate of the stimulant fluid during stimulation of the subterranean formation. Thus, it may be desirable to decrease and/or restrict a flow rate of the reservoir fluid from the subterranean formation into the casing conduit through the stimulation ports. However, such control may be difficult, costly, and/or time-consuming to implement. Thus, there exists a need for improved systems and methods for completing a well and/or producing a reservoir fluid therefrom.